Ski bores turn to golf as slopes turn green

IS it snowing? In 2000, The Independent’s expert told us: ““Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past.”

“Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past”

The New York Times continues to be worried about those expensive winter pursuits:

Rising Temperatures Threaten Fundamental Change for Ski SlopesWhether this winter turns out to be warm or cold, scientists say that climate change means the long-term outlook for skiers everywhere is bleak. The threat of global warming hangs over almost every resort, from Sugarloaf in Maine to Squaw Valley in California. As temperatures rise, analysts predict that scores of the nation’s ski centers, especially those at lower elevations and latitudes, will eventually vanish.Under certain warming forecasts, more than half of the 103 ski resorts in the Northeast will not be able to maintain a 100-day season by 2039, according to a study to be published next year by Daniel Scott, director of the Interdisciplinary Center on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Dozens of ski resorts across Europe will open up to a fortnight ahead of schedule this weekend after a succession of blizzards brought up to 1.5 metres of fresh snow across the Alps – and there’s much more on the way.

But given a flurry of post-Sandy snowstorms from California to Colorado, the USA’s ski season is “launching into pretty high gear” even before the industry’s traditional Thanksgiving weekend kickoff, says meteorologist Joel Gratz of OpenSnow.com.

She said the media were partly to blame, particularly weather forecasters who often opine that because it’s not 32 degrees, snow can’t be made.She detailed one Philadelphia television station showing video of people golfing in 50-degree weather last season. Pocono ski mountains were covered in snow that day, and the skiing was excellent.“We all had snow, but everybody was saying isn’t it terrible, global warming, the poor ski resorts, and the Pennsylvania ski resorts are saying we have snow. We couldn’t get the message out that we had snow and the skiing was good.”

Phew! Panic over. You ski bores can go and play golf with other adultzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….